What is a nanny and how can you become a nanny? What is the difference between a nanny and an au pair?Find out more about nannies and au pairs!
Difference between a nanny and an au pair
A nanny or childcare provider is a person who cares for the children of a family. Sometimes, they are also called “governess”, from the French word “gouvernante”.
You could compare the work of a nanny roughly to the work of a teacher in a daycare center.
There is a distinction between a “ live-in nanny” and a “ live-out nanny ”, depending on the living situation of the nanny.
If the nanny lives in the same house with the family, she is a live-in nanny . If she doesn’t live with the family and only comes over for a couple of hours, you call her a live-out nanny .
The responsibilities of a nanny are:
childcare
education
helping with the children’s homework
cooking
housework
shopping and driving the children around
Nanny job
One of the differences between a nanny and an au pair is that the nanny is from the same country as the family.
Also, the work of the nanny, unlike an au pair program, is considered a proper work relation (with payroll tax). The host family is actually the employer and the nanny is an employee. A nanny can work full time or part time, depending on the family’s needs. Therefore, the nanny doesn’t earn merely pocket money, but a full salary. A nanny earns between 7 – 30 euros an hour, depending on her qualifications, experience and on the amount of work.
So, a nanny’s gross income per year falls between 10,080 and 43,200 euros for a 30-hour week. Clearly, if a nanny earns that much, it means that she has been educated in either healthcare or childcare. While it used to be common to look for a nanny among friends and acquaintances, now, most people look for a nanny online.